New pathways: affective labor and distributed expertise in peer-supported Learning Circles

ABSTRACT

This paper explores learners’ and facilitators’ participation in Peer 2 Peer University’s Learning Circles (face-to-face study groups for people who are taking massive open online courses together). While digital technologies and open educational resources bring new possibilities for learning in informal settings, few empirical studies explore how adults take advantage of them. This research employs ethnography to investigate how learners and facilitators participated in eight different Learning Circles over a six-week period. My thematic analysis reveals that participants in these study groups expressed care, shared learning resources, enacted self-motivated learning strategies, and took risks by leaving comfort zones. Participants leveraged affective labor to create group cohesion, strengthen accountability, and enable peer interactions that supported self-guided learning. I argue that these virtues can open new pathways for adult learning in the twenty-first century.

KEYWORDS:

• MOOC
• open educational resources
• communities of practice
• self-guided learning
• peer learning